Kategorie: Humans

Ahead of the set appeal hearing before the planned execution of Malaysian national Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, Amnesty International’s Singapore Researcher Rachel Chhoa-Howard said:

“Singapore authorities must listen to the global outcry against executing Nagaenthran, whose case has shocked people around the world. This appeal hearing provides an opportunity to call off this horrific punishment against a man who may not fully understand what is happening to him.”

“Nagaenthran’s case has been marred by multiple human rights violations including deep concerns about Nagaenthran’s intellectual disability, which UN experts have stressed would render his execution unlawful. Recent testimony from his family and lawyer about his current mental health condition reinforces these concerns.”

“Singapore must act now to avoid a stain on its international reputation by commuting Nagaenthran’s sentence, and avoiding another case like this by urgently reforming its use of the death penalty, and introducing a moratorium on executions as first steps towards full abolition of this cruel punishment.”

Background

Lawyers for Nagaenthran made an application to Singapore’s High Court seeking a stay on the ground that executing him would be unconstitutional in light of his intellectual disability. This application was dismissed, but his lawyers were able to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.

The hearing was postponed after Nagaenthran tested positive for COVID-19 on 9 November, but has now been rescheduled for 30 November. If appeals are unsuccessful, a stay will be lifted and the execution will proceed, possibly in a matter of days.

Nagaenthran was convicted and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in November 2010 for importing 42.72 grams of diamorphine (heroin) into the island state in April 2009. His conviction and death sentence have so far been upheld on appeal.

Medical experts who have assessed Nagaenthran found that his cognitive deficits may have contributed towards his diminished responsibility when carrying out his offence. In recent weeks, Nagaenthran’s youngest brother has expressed deep concerns about his brother’s mental state and incomplete understanding of his imminent execution when he was able to visit him in prison.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. As of today, 108 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and more than two-thirds are abolitionist in law or practice.

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Violence and repression by the Colombian security forces, especially the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD), have resulted in hundreds of victims sustaining eye trauma, said Amnesty International, Temblores and the Programa de Acción por la Igualdad y la Inclusión Social (PAIIS) of the Universidad de los Andes in a new report published today.

Colombia: Shoot on Sight: Eye Trauma in the Context of the National Strike documents 12 cases of police violence that resulted in irreversible eye trauma. Four of the cases occurred in previous years and eight in the context of the 2021 National Strike, in the cities of Bogotá, Popayán, Florencia, Medellín and Manizales. Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps analysed more than 300 pieces of audiovisual material on the disproportionate and repressive actions of ESMAD between 28 April and 20 October, concluding that officials carried out widespread human rights violations against protesters by inflicting eye injuries through the disproportionate use of less lethal weapons.

“It is chilling to see how members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad deliberately fired at the eyes of so many people, just for daring to exercise their legitimate right to peaceful protest. The Colombian authorities must guarantee justice, comprehensive care and reparation to the victims and take the necessary measures to avoid a repetition of these serious human rights violations,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The report highlights the stories of victims of eye trauma and describes the multiple barriers they have faced in ensuring they received specialized health and psycho-social care. Several victims have faced increased obstacles in accessing decent work or continuing their education under conditions of equality.

Their accounts describe in detail how their injuries were not accidental, but were targeted attacks intended to punish them for legitimately exercising their right to social protest. They reveal once again patterns in the conduct of ESMAD officials which corroborate repeated complaints about the systematic nature of their practices of excessive and disproportionate use of force.

The Colombian authorities must guarantee justice, comprehensive care and reparation to the victims and take the necessary measures to avoid a repetition of these serious human rights violations

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

“Police violence cannot continue to be part of our daily lives. We cannot get used to the state indiscriminately violating citizens’ rights, much less harming those who exercise their right to protest. The cases of police violence and specifically eye injuries committed during the 2021 strike that we registered in our platform demonstrate that the actions of the police do not comply with international human rights standards and that police reform is necessary to guarantee the safety and lives of the people,” said Alejandro Rodríguez, coordinator of Grita, Temblores’ police violence observatory.

One of the most emblematic cases in the report is that of Leidy Cadena, a political science student who was demonstrating peacefully with her boyfriend and some friends in central Bogotá on 28 April when ESMAD officials approached them in an aggressive manner. “I just shouted ‘let’s go’ and immediately afterwards my face felt very hot. I couldn’t see through either of my eyes, I was in a great deal of distress,” said Leidy.

Amnesty International verified a video taken following the incident in which five ESMAD members are seen with shields and two of them are carrying riot gear in their hands, including mechanical kinetic weapons. Leidy is covering her bleeding eye, clearly in pain and her companions ask for help, but the ESMAD officials do not help her.

Leidy lost an eye in the attack. She believes that it was an act of gender-based violence because her companions were unharmed and from the start of the demonstrations she had noticed several attacks against women. After she reported the incident to the Attorney General’s Office, Leidy confirmed that she was interviewed about what happened at least 10 times and that this revictimized her. She also received threats on social media and on 16 October she was the victim of an attack when gunpowder was pushed under her door. Leidy, her mother and her partner have been forced to leave Colombia because of the threats.

Police violence cannot continue to be part of our daily lives. We cannot get used to the state indiscriminately violating citizens’ rights, much less harming those who exercise their right to protest

Alejandro Rodríguez, coordinator of the Temblores observatory on police violence

Based on the evidence and statements presented in the report, Amnesty International, Temblores and PAIIS urge the Colombian authorities to comply without delay with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights following its working visit in June 2021 – in particular ensuring that the use of non-lethal means of controlling public order is subject to strict, publicly available protocols. To prevent the excessive use of force during protests, the Colombian authorities must undertake a structural reform of the National Police, in particular ESMAD, which ensures a civilian approach in their actions, as well as independent and effective monitoring systems and investigation protocols to investigate police abuses. Likewise, they must create pathways for supporting victims of eye injuries and gender-based violence that include prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and psycho-social care.

“We had the privilege of supporting several victims of eye injuries who gave testimonies about their cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and we continue to provide legal assistance to some of them. We understand their struggle and frustration and we support their demands for justice. We are convinced of the need to continue to draw attention to the ways in which the security forces not only do not guarantee the rights of citizens, but deliberately violate them. Eye injuries appear to be a punishment for victims for exercising their legitimate right to protest, which is stamped on their faces and their lives,” said Juliana Bustamante, Director of PAIIS.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Duncan Tucker: duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

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Following today’s decision by a court in Turkey not to release prominent human rights defender, Osman Kavala, Amnesty International have called on heads of state of the Council of Europe countries to launch infringement proceedings against Turkey when they meet in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

In an open letter published this afternoon, the organization called on the heads of state to use this rarely used procedure following Turkey’s refusal to comply with a key binding judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in 2019.

“Turkey’s justifications for refusing to free Osman Kavala from prison have run out of steam,” said Nils Muižnieks, Amnesty International’s Europe Director.

“Turkey’s refusal to implement the binding judgment of the European Court is an unconscionable violation of Osman Kavala’s right to liberty and represents a serious threat to the integrity of the European human rights system.

Osman Kavala has been arbitrarily detained in Istanbul’s high security Silivri prison as a consequence of barely disguised political persecution, for more than four years.

Today’s hearing was part of the new Kafkaesque trial in which Osman Kavala’s case has been joined to the cases of 51 others, including football supporters, who face serious criminal charges of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order”, “attempting to overthrow the government” and “military and political espionage”.

“This trial is yet another brazen episode in the relentless political persecution for which the European Court has condemned Turkey. When a state shows such disregard for it’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers must take action and initiate infringement proceedings,” said Nils Muižnieks.

“The Council of Europe and its member states must do their utmost to ensure that Osman Kavala is released.”

OPEN LETTER

Dear Heads of State of Council of Europe member states,

Next week, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers will meet to discuss the launch of infringement proceedings, a rarely used procedure available under the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), in the case of Osman Kavala. As heads of state of Council of Europe member states, you have a crucial role to play. At stake is the freedom of Osman Kavala, a human rights defender who is arbitrarily detained in Europe’s largest maximum security Silivri prison in Istanbul, as a consequence of barely disguised political persecution for over four years, confronted daily with the crushing reality of a judicial system unwilling and unable to serve him justice.

Today, once again a Turkish court has ruled that Osman Kavala is to remain behind bars. This, despite a binding judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) in December 2019 finding that Osman Kavala’s detention for allegedly directing and financing the Gezi Park protests of 2013 and for alleged involvement in the failed coup of July 2016 was in pursuance of an ‘ulterior motive’, that of silencing him as a human rights defender. The Court found violations of the right to liberty (Article 5.1) and the right to a speedy judicial review of detention (Article 5.4) under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and that his detention involved a restriction of his rights for an improper purpose (Article 18). The Court held that ‘the government must take every measure to put an end to the applicant’s detention and to secure his immediate release’.

The latest hearing is part of the new, expanded trial in which Osman Kavala and 51 others, including football supporters, are facing serious criminal charges. This new prosecution is another piece of evidence that the relentless misuse of the criminal justice system serves no other purpose but to silence him and crush civil society in Turkey.

Instead of releasing Osman Kavala, Turkey has used all sorts of dilatory measures, unacceptable for a state that claims to abide by human rights. It has repeatedly and falsely claimed the Court’s binding ruling had already been implemented; that Osman Kavala’s detention is under a different article of the penal code, Article 328 (‘espionage’) and not the ones that the Strasbourg Court had considered – charges under Articles 309 of the penal code that concern ‘attempting to overthrow the constitutional order’ and 312 for ‘attempting to overthrow the government.’ This justification has been repeatedly provided to the Committee of Ministers, while Osman Kavala has been kept behind bars.

In response, the Committee of Ministers has repeatedly reminded Turkey of its obligation to implement the Court’s judgment and release Osman Kavala from pretrial detention.

Turkey’s persistent refusal to implement the judgment of the Court further exacerbates the impunity for the gross violation of Osman Kavala’s right to freedom found by the Court. The Council of Europe and its member states must do their utmost to ensure that Osman Kavala is released and that the Convention system can function effectively with respect for the binding judgments of the Court.

As parties to the Convention, it is your collective responsibility to protect and uphold the Convention system and its values. We therefore count on your vote in favour of the initiation of infringement proceedings at the Committee of Ministers meeting next week. As you know, every vote counts and an absence or an abstention will de facto count as a vote against opening this crucial procedure. Justice must be done for Osman Kavala, victim of the abject arbitrariness that the Council of Europe is meant to eradicate.

Nils Muižnieks
Amnesty International
Europe Director

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Stefan Simanowitz, press@amnesty.org   

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End Crackdown on Civil Society; Ensure Accountability for Security Force Abuses

Indian authorities have detained the prominent Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez under an abusive counterterrorism law that is increasingly used against activists and critics of the government, six human rights groups said today.The Indian government should immediately end violations of the rights to liberty and a fair trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and uphold domestic and international human rights law obligations.

The groups are Front Line Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.

On November 22, 2021, officials of the National Investigation Agency, India’s federal counterterrorism agency, raided Parvez’s home and office, seized several electronic devices and documents, and arrested him on allegations of terrorism funding, being a member of a terrorist organization, criminal conspiracy, and waging war against the state. The action against Parvez was apparently politically motivated.

Parvez, 44, is the program coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and the chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. He has documented cases of enforced disappearances and investigated unmarked graves in Kashmir, and as a result, the Indian authorities have repeatedly targeted him for his human rights work.

He was detained for over two months in 2016 and blocked from traveling to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. He was among those targeted in counterterrorism raids in October 2020 when several nongovernmental organizations, activists, and a newspaper faced investigations for their work or for being outspoken about government abuses.

Parvez’s arbitrary arrest and detention is the latest in a long list of human rights violations by Indian authorities against civil society groups, human rights activists, and media outlets in Jammu and Kashmir. The authorities have not ensured accountability for extrajudicial killings and other grave abuses by security forces in Kashmir but have instead arrested those who speak out for justice and human rights. Journalists and activists have expressed fear that they can be summoned or arrested at any time. Over 40 people have been placed on lists instructing immigration authorities to stop them from traveling abroad, a news report said.

Parvez’s arrest comes amid a growing nationwide crackdown by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on civil society groups and media, and particularly in Jammu and Kashmir since the government revoked the state’s special autonomous status in August 2019 and split it into two federally governed territories.

The authorities are increasingly using the counterterrorism law against activists, journalists, peaceful protesters, and critics to silence dissent. The law contains a vague and overbroad definition of terrorism that encompasses a wide range of nonviolent political activity, including political protest by minority populations and civil society groups. In 2019, the government further amended the law, granting officials the authority to designate an individual as a “terrorist” without charge or a trial.

In October 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights raised concerns over the mounting use of the law against human rights defenders and peaceful protesters and urged the authorities to release people arrested “for simply exercising basic human rights that India is obligated to protect.”

Since August 2019, the Indian authorities have clamped down on media freedom in Kashmir. The authorities have shut down the internet more often than anywhere else in the world. The majority of the shutdowns are in Kashmir, and are aimed at silencing protests and also curbing access to information and violating fundamental rights including freedom of speech and association.

Journalists in Kashmir face increasing harassment by the authorities, including raids and arrests on terrorism charges. In September, the police raided the homes of four Kashmiri journalists and confiscated their phones and laptops. In June, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention expressed concerns over “alleged arbitrary detention and intimidation of journalists covering the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Since 2019, the security forces have been implicated in numerous abuses while enforcing restrictions on movement including routine harassment and ill-treatment at checkpoints, arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings. On November 15, four people were killed in an alleged gunfight with security forces in Srinagar’s Hyderpora area and the police hurriedly buried their bodies. The families of two victims said they were businessmen and were used by the police as “human shields.” When the families protested the killings, the police arrested them and temporarily detained several. After widespread protests, including by two former chief ministers, the police exhumed the two bodies and handed them over to their families, and the administration ordered a magisterial inquiry into the deaths.

Earlier in November, police arrested an activist and politician, Talib Hussain, for publicly questioning the security forces’ killing of a Kashmiri man in October. The authorities did not investigate Hussain’s allegations, but instead accused him of “promoting enmity between different groups” and “spreading rumors or fake news.”

In March, five UN expert mandates wrote to the Indian government seeking information about the detention of a Kashmiri politician, Waheed Para; the alleged custodial killing of a shopkeeper, Irfan Ahmad Dar; and the enforced disappearance of Naseer Ahmad Wani, a resident of Shopian district. They raised concerns about “the repressive measures and broader pattern of systematic infringements of fundamental rights used against the local population, as well as of intimidations, searches and confiscations committed by national security agents.”

In December 2020, security forces killed two men and a teenager in the outskirts of Srinagar, claiming they were militants. The families disputed the claims, and the teenager’s father said he was a secondary school student. In February, the police reportedly filed a criminal case, including under the counterterrorism law, against the teenager’s father, who had demanded his son’s body and sought an investigation into the killing.

There has been no accountability for security force abuses, in part because of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which gives the security forces effective immunity from prosecution. Since the law came into force in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, the Indian government has not granted permission to prosecute any security force personnel in civilian courts. Rights groups have long documented that the law has become a tool of state abuse, oppression, and discrimination, and called for its repeal. Affected residents, activists, government-appointed committees, politicians, and UN human rights bodies have also criticized the law.

As India’s crackdown on human rights has unfolded, its international partners, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia remain reluctant to publicly denounce Indian government abuses, let alone take measures to address them. This unwillingness to criticize heightening abuses raises concerns that the government will feel emboldened to take further repressive measures.

The Indian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Parvez and others arrested in politically motivated cases and drop all charges against them, the groups said. The government should also amend the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to bring it in line with international human rights law and standards and pending its amendment, it should stop using it to target human rights defenders, critics of the government, and others exercising their basic human rights.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on India, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/asia/india

For more information, please contact:
In London, Meenakshi Ganguly (English, Bengali, Hindi): +91-9820-036032 (mobile); or Email: gangulm@hrw.org. Twitter: @mg2411
In Kathmandu, Mandira Sharma, Senior International Legal Advisor, International Commission of Jurists, (English, Nepali) Tel: +977 9851048475, Email: mandira.sharma@icj.org.
In Geneva, Iolanda Jaquemet, Director of Communications, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), (English): +41-795-394-1 06 (mobile); or Email: ij@omct.org

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Reacting to the release of hundreds of the husbands of the ‘Knifar Women’ – a movement of more than 2,000 displaced Nigerian women who campaign for the release of their husbands from unlawful military detention – Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said:

“We welcome the release of the 600 men, including husbands of Knifar Women, from unlawful detention at Giwa Barracks and Maiduguri Maximum Prison. However, at least 600 more who have never stood trial are still illegally detained, a situation which puts their lives in danger and their families through endless anguish. Prolonged unlawful detention in notoriously grim military facilities is a gross human rights violation.

“Some of those released told Amnesty International that they were unlawfully detained for more than six years and during that time were never told why they were detained, or what they were accused of. Many were denied access to a lawyer or contact and visits from family.

“Of the thousands that have disappeared since the start of Boko Haram conflict, far too many were victims of the military’s unlawful detention program. Nigerian authorities must immediately release those still in military detention, as well as investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes perpetrated by the military. Those released must be given justice and reparations – including psychosocial care – for the years they have spent locked away in military facilities.

Amnesty International also pays tribute to the courage of Knifar Women who continue to courageously speak out – often at great personal risk – in the face of injustice.”

BACKGROUND

On 12 November 2021 Nigerian military started releasing 600 men who had been held for up to six years in military detention allegedly on suspicion of supporting Boko Haram. Amnesty International supported the work of the Knifar Women’s movement – a group of more than 2,000 Nigerian displaced women who campaign for the release of their husbands from unlawful military detention: Nigeria: Life and Death in Giwa Barracks

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